A year of belonging at GitHub
GitHub's 2024 Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DI&B) efforts focused on expanding the talent pipeline, broadening community access to open source, and embedding responsible AI and accessibility practices into the company's engineering culture.
Workforce and pipeline growth
In the U.S., GitHub reported a +1.0 percentage point increase in its Asian population and a +0.2 percentage point increase in Hispanic and Latinx populations. Globally, the company saw a +1.4 percentage point increase in the number of women represented compared to the previous year.
The company also expanded its early-career programs. The GitHub Intern Program, designed to recruit university talent for potential full-time roles after graduation, grew by 184% from the previous fiscal year. Of the U.S. intern cohort, 38% were women and 41% were Hispanic/Latino or African American/Black. The GitHub Early in Profession program targets individuals with less than three years of professional experience.
Community and open source outreach
GitHub's Social Impact team skilled more than 1,700 learners in 2024 through curriculum, hackathons, and virtual leadership and mentorship programs. In partnership with Major League Hacking, the company distributed $20,000 in grants to fund over 30 events, supporting 2,500 learners in gaining hands-on open source experience.
The company also launched All In Africa, an initiative to make open source education accessible across the continent. The program aims to support a future where global tech companies can draw from an expanding skilled workforce while contributing to the prosperity of African economies.
Internally, nine Communities of Belonging (CoBs) support employee connection and provide opportunities for members to lead diversity initiatives aligned with innovation and corporate social responsibility goals.
Responsible AI and research
In 2024, GitHub focused on supporting responsible AI programs. The company joined the AI Elections Accord, a cross-industry initiative to combat the deceptive use of AI in elections. GitHub also co-hosted a workshop on responsible practices for open source AI with the Partnership on AI, which led to a report on risk mitigation strategies for the open foundation model value chain.
The GitHub Innovation Graph now includes four full years of data for public analysis, with updates made in response to feedback. The most recent data release highlighted economic researchers using the data to estimate the impact of generative AI tools on software development activity.
Accessibility as an engineering fundamental
GitHub has continued to invest in accessibility as one of its engineering fundamentals, forming the basis for accessibility governance. The Accessibility Design Bootcamp, completed by over 50% of the design team so far, provides exercises and discussions on web accessibility best practices. The company also launched company-wide accessibility training and continued improving its accessible interview process globally.
To amplify the voices of disabled developers, GitHub published another four installments of its Coding Accessibility series and maintained the accessibility playlist on its YouTube channel.
Looking ahead
GitHub's roadmap includes partnerships with open source programs worldwide, nurturing its Communities of Belonging, advancing ethical AI practices, and supporting research on the developer community. The full report on the company's DI&B strategy is available at github.com/about/diversity/report.
